Pemex Crude Output Lowest In March

Crude oil production fromMexico's state-run oil company Pemex totaled 2.469 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, the company said on Friday, marking the lowest level of output since the 1990s.

The level of crude production in March was the lowest level of monthly output since June 1990, according to energy ministry data, excluding a single month in 1995 when output was down by more than 800,000 due to Hurricane Roxanne.

Meanwhile, crude oil export volumes in March were down 11 percent at 1.133 million bpd compared to the previous month, Pemex said, which was the lowest level of shipments since June.

Since hitting peak production of 3.38 million bpd in 2004, Mexican crude output has slid by a quarter to settle at 2.52 million bpd last year.

Crude exports have dropped by a third over the same period.

In December,Mexico'sCongresspassed a landmark energy reform that ended Pemex's 75-year monopoly on oil production and aims to lure significant new streams of private investment via new contracts to boost output.

Production through the first two weeks of April edged slightly higher to average 2.472 million bpd, according to preliminary figures published byMexico's national hydrocarbons commission CNH. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Bernard Orr)